DOJ’s Request for Fast and Furious Subpoena Deadline Extension Ignores the reality that the Department has unreasonably delayed producing these documents to the Committee

WASHINGTON. D.C. – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today, in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, wrote that the Justice Department’s request of an extension for completing its document production on Operation Fast and Furious again “demonstrates a lack of good faith” and a Department “more concerned with protecting its image through spin control than actually cooperating with Congress.”

“The Justice Department’s request for additional time has, unfortunately, not been followed by efforts to bridge the significant differences between its legal obligation to Congress and the reality of its stonewalling,” said Chairman Issa on sending the letter that chastised the Justice Department for its lack of cooperation and declining to grant the request for an extension. “The committee is determined to know what happened in Operation Fast and Furious and how the Justice Department responded when it was publicly confronted with evidence of reckless conduct after Agent Terry’s death. If the Justice Department cannot commit to providing, at a minimum, a detailed description of documents it is withholding, and the legal basis for doing so, then the committee has no other option than to move forward with the contempt process against Attorney General Holder.”